Election Commissioner Ashok Lavasa, who was next in line to head the poll panel, resigned on Tuesday to join the Private Sector Operations and Public-Private Partnerships at the Philippines-based Asian Development Bank (ADB) as vice-president next month. Lavasa submitted his resignation to President Ram Nath Kovind, and will be relieved from his duties on 31 August if his resignation is accepted.
Lavasa has an MBA degree from Southern Cross University in Australia, and MPhil in Defense and Strategic Studies degree from the University of Madras. He completed his Bachelor of Arts Degree with English Honors and a Master of Arts in English Literature from Delhi University. He is a retired IAS officer of the Haryana cadre was appointed as election commissioner in January 2018 . He retired as Finance Secretary and has also served as environment and civil aviation secretary. As joint secretary in the Department of Economic Affairs in 2001-02, he looked after matters pertaining to ADB. His premature exit puts his colleague Sushil Chandra next in the line of succession.
Lavasa had made headlines during the Lok Sabha elections 2019, when he opposed the clean chit given to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and former BJP president Amit Shah on charges of violating the Model Code of Conduct during the elections. Soon after the polls, three members of the Lavasa family, including his wife, had come under the scanner of the Income Tax Department for alleged non-declaration of income and disproportionate assets. His son Abir Lavasa’s company (Nourish Organic) and Ashok Lavasa’s sister Shakuntala Lavasa, a pediatrician, were also served income tax notices. The family members have denied allegations made by the IT department.
The ADB appointed Lavasa as vice-president for Private Sector Operations and Public-Private Partnerships. He will succeed Diwakar Gupta, whose term will end on 31 August. Sources said the government had recommended a few nominees to the ADB, including Lavasa.
Lavasa would be only the second election commissioner to step down from the poll panel before completion of his term. The last time an election commissioner put in his papers was in 1973 when chief election commissioner Nagendra Singh was appointed a judge in the International Court of Justice at The Hague.
